Maszlee questions Education Ministry's assurances after content delays

 

PARLIAMENT | Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik questioned the Education Ministry's guarantee that the educational TV content could be completed following the extension of the project's completion date given to Radius One Sdn Bhd production company.

The former education minister also asked why the company only completed 25 of the 800-content series despite being given ample time.

"What guarantee can be given that more than 700 episodes will be completed even when extended?" he asked, interrupting Education Minister Mohd Radzi Jidin during the closing session of the ministerial debate for the Budget 2021 in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Earlier, Radzi said the open tender project worth RM1.92 million was delayed due to being affected by the implementation of the movement control order (MCO) in March.

Therefore, he said the expiry date of the project was extended from Nov 30, 2020, to March 31, 2021.

"Currently, the company has produced 25 episodes of educational videos that have been broadcast and another 63 are ready to be broadcast. A further 712 episodes are still in various stages of production," said Radzi.

Maszlee also disputed the RM2,500 price rate for each episode of the educational TV content, saying it was substantially below the market rate of RM25,000.

“When (the project) commenced, it was opened far below the market price. For example, the accepted market rate is RM1,000 for one minute of production."

“For this series, it is RM2,500 for 25 minutes. This is far from the market price where it’s usually RM1,000 per minute. That means RM25,000.

"So which company dares to enter?" he questioned, adding that it was perhaps a project that failed or was delayed due to its low pricing.

Maszlee criticised the lack of emphasis given to assuring the quality and delivery of the educational content.

"This is a mortgage on the future of our children," he said.

The content is being broadcast on TV Okey, a Malaysian free-to-air television channel operated by Radio Televisyen Malaysia dedicated to East Malaysians and urban youths.

Launch on March 21, 2018, TV Okey airs programmes in English, Malay, and East Malaysian languages such as Iban, Kadazan, Dusun and Bajau.

Last week, Radius One Sdn Bhd producer Fazli Baharom told Malaysiakini that content production is proceeding without any problems.

In fact, some of them have been posted, said Fazli.

"Everything is going well. Indeed, people say this is the first time Radius One has contributed to the education of our country - for students, for school children.

"Because of the MCO, even though we do a lot of dramas, people say we can now also contribute to the country," he said, adding that he was committed to improving the existing educational TV in the country.

"There are children who do not have Internet, so they depend on TV," he said. - Mkini